Opening the Umbrella: The Effects of Rebranding Multiple Category-Specific Private-Label Brands to One Umbrella Brand. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Keller, Kristopher O.; Geyskens, Inge; Dekimpe, Marnik G.
• Is Part Of: JMR, Journal of marketing research. Volume 57:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 677
• Page End: 694
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: branding -- marketing-mix effectiveness -- private labels -- retailing; Marketing research -- Periodicals; 658.8305
• DOI: 10.1177/0022243720922853
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-2437

Abstract

The authors study the consequences of rebranding multiple category-specific private-label (PL) brands by "opening the umbrella" and unifying them under a common brand name. Retailers expect positive consequences that may manifest themselves in two ways: (1) an increased intrinsic brand strength and (2) an improved marketing-mix effectiveness. The authors analyze three substantially different retailers that rebranded one of their PL tiers. Consistent with the national-brand literature on umbrella rebranding, all three retailers realized an increase in the rebranded PL tier's intrinsic brand strength, along with a reduced price elasticity. However, and in contrast to the national-brand literature, the effectiveness of both price-promoting and assortment size dropped for all three retailers after they unified their category-specific PLs under a common umbrella name.